


Something to Remember

by HumsHappily



Series: Someone to Remember [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alzheimer's Disease, Art, Cartinelli - Freeform, Christmas Presents, F/F, Memories, Photographs, This will make you cry, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 01:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5438654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumsHappily/pseuds/HumsHappily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Angie…” Peggy breathed. “I have to tell Angie you’re alive. She’ll be so….” </p><p>“Happy,” Steve said, watching Peggy as she fell asleep with a quiet murmur dying on her lips. </p><p>He took a shaky breath, looking through the rest of the pictures. Peggy smiling, eyes looking somewhere else, caught somewhere between one word and the next. Peggy, a bit older, wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, dressed up for what the handwriting at the bottom called opening night.</p><p>Steve frowned. “Actress…” he muttered, pulling out his phone. He tapped in a search command, and waited. The first result got him a picture that matched the one still in Peggy’s hand, and he frowned as he read. “Angela Martinelli. Actress from 1955-1969 until a stage accident ended her career at which point she enrolled in a civil communications group and was partnered with Margaret Carter. Miss Martinelli and her partner Margaret Carter served at the behest of both British and American governments for many years, and received multiple commendations for their actions in the field and out. Click here for a link to Ms. Martinelli’s journal entries, saved for posterity in the national archives, and available online.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic belongs to my ongoing series [ "Someone to Remember"](http://archiveofourown.org/series/369845)

“Angie….”

“What’s that, Peg?” Steve asked, looking up from the book he had open, but wasn’t reading. 

“I miss Angie,” Peggy said, reaching out with a shaking hand for the cup of ice that sat beside her bed. 

Steve shifted, helping her, holding the cup so she could get a few sips of the water in the bottom. “Who is Angie?” Steve asked quietly, seeing the tears in Peggy’s eyes, and frowning at them. 

Peggy pushed the cup away, and pointing to the small jewelry box across the room. “In there.”

“What’s there, Peg?” Steve asked, standing and going over. 

“In the top,” Peggy whispered. “Inside it. I want to show you Angie.”

“Who is Angie?” Steve muttered, opening the box. He pushed aside a few loose buttons. “Peg, there’s nothing in here.”

“In the top,” Peggy said again, voice breaking with frustration. “Lift it.”

“Lift it…” Steve’s fingers caught on a small knot at the back and he pulled gently, the false bottom lifting up. He looked down at the pictures inside and carefully took them out, bringing them over to Peggy. “These, Peg? This is Angie?”

Peggy smiled, reaching out a wrinkled hand to stroke over the picture on top, Angie standing behind the counter of the diner, head turned slightly to the side though her eyes bored into the camera. “That’s my Angie,” she said quietly. “I’m like you, Steve.” 

“Like me?” Steve said, looking at the photo, and swallowing hard. 

“You had your Bucky. I had Angie,” Peggy sighed. “Let me….Let me see the next one.”

Steve switched the photos without a word, feeling small iron bands wrapping round and round his lungs at the mention of Bucky, and the pain in Peggy’s voice. Peggy smiled again. “She was painting the door. She hated the color that...that…” Peggy struggled, unable to remember the name.

“Howard had it?” Steve suggested quietly. 

Peggy nodded. “Howard’s house. We lived there. We lived together.” 

“Do you want to see the next one?” Steve asked.

Peggy nodded. “Angie’s audition,” she said as Steve showed her. “It was that day. She thought she’d done badly. She’d thought it was terrible. We drank peach schnapps all night. They called her in a few days later.” Peggy gave a small smile. “She was always so beautiful.” 

“Do you want to see the next?” 

Peggy nodded and took the picture on top away from Steve, holding it in a shaky hand. 

“This one is you, Peg,” Steve said, glancing at it. 

Peggy shook her head. “No. Angie is there.”

“No, Peg,” Steve said gently. “Look, it’s just you. ‘Peg, food drive, 1958’. You were probably running it or something.”

“No. She was there,” Peggy insisted, shaking her head. “She was there.”

“Okay. Okay. She was there. She musta took the picture,” Steve said soothingly. “Here let’s just move onto the next one, all right?” He switched to the next one, and smiled. “Look, there’s both of you.”

“That’s my Angie,” Peggy murmured, eyes drifting from the photo in her hand to the photo in Steve’s. “That’s her.” 

“Who was she?” Steve asked. “Who was she really?”

“Ms. Angela Martinelli, actress extraordinaire. My Angie,” Peggy said, giving a breathy chuckle and starting to cough. Steve set the photos aside, grabbing the water for her again. She drank, getting her breath back slowly. “Steve?” she whispered. “Steve, you’re back?”

Steve’s face fell and he set the pictures aside. “Yeah, Peg. Couldn’t leave my best girl, could I? I owe you a dance.” 

“Steve...Steve, you’re alive! I can’t wait to tell…” Peggy fell silent, blinking in confusion. “Who was I going to tell?”

Steve swallowed hard. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ll tell her, okay?” 

“Tell who?” Peggy asked. “Steve, I don’t understand.”

“I know,” Steve murmured. “Why don’t you rest a little, Peg?” 

“I can’t,” Peggy said, though her eyes were drooping at the suggestion. “I need to tell...I need to tell…”

“Angie,” Steve said. 

“Angie…” Peggy breathed. “I have to tell Angie you’re alive. She’ll be so….” 

“Happy,” Steve said, watching Peggy as she fell asleep with a quiet murmur dying on her lips. 

He took a shaky breath, looking through the rest of the pictures. Peggy smiling, eyes looking somewhere else, caught somewhere between one word and the next. Peggy, a bit older, wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, dressed up for what the handwriting at the bottom called opening night. 

Steve frowned. “Actress…” he muttered, pulling out his phone. He tapped in a search command, and waited. The first result got him a picture that matched the one still in Peggy’s hand, and he frowned as he read. “Angela Martinelli. Actress from 1955-1969 until a stage accident ended her career at which point she enrolled in a civil communications group and was partnered with Margaret Carter. Miss Martinelli and her partner Margaret Carter served at the behest of both British and American governments for many years, and received multiple commendations for their actions in the field and out. Click [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3509132/chapters/7714136) for a link to Ms. Martinelli’s journal entries, saved for posterity in the national archives, and available online.” 

His frown grew deeper at the words ‘civil communications group’, and he closed the webpage, pulling up Shield's database instead and typing in Angie’s name. He leaned back in his chair as the files came up, a bright red ‘AGENT DECEASED’ warning at the top of the page. 

“Angela Martinelli served from 1969 to 1979 until her death while in [redacted] due to a high speed car crash. Agent Carter was in the back seat, tending to the wounds of [redacted] after his successful removal, when Agent Martinelli was shot through the side window. She lost control of the car, and -” Steve stopped reading with a heavy exhale, looking over to Peggy as she slept. “Oh Peg. You really know how to choose ‘em, don’t you?” he murmured. He shook his head, and took the picture of Peggy and Angie out into the hall. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said, flagging down a passing nurse. “Do you have a scanner I could use?”

“Sure thing, Captain. I’m heading to the office right now, I’ll show you where it is,” she said with a smile. “How’s Ms. Carter?”

“She’s sleeping now. She remembered someone, and got upset when she couldn’t remember who we were talking about any more,” Steve replied. 

“That happens. She’s doing really well otherwise though,” the nurse said kindly, tapping a code into the keypad and unlocking the door with a quiet mechanical hum. “Who did she remember?”

Steve held up the photo. “A friend from work. Died a while back though, in a car crash.” 

“Ah, that’s a shame. That what you wanna scan?” she asked, leading him back. “Here you go. I’ll just turn it on. You know how to use it?”

“I should be able to figure it out,” Steve said. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“My pleasure. I’m going to just grab some papers and head back out. Turn it off when you’re done please.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Steve went and fiddled with the scanner, a few false starts before he managed to get it working the way he wanted, and scanning the picture in. He sent the copy to his phone, and shut it back down. “Thank you,” he said, passing the nurse on the way back to Peggy’s room. 

“Mhm. No, Mr. Johnson, you can’t go that way to the dining room. Let’s go find your robe, shall we?” she said, nodding distractedly as she led a resident back down the hall. 

“Was that Captain America? I read about him, you know. We had all the comics at work. Do you think that was him?” the resident asked, following her back to his room. “I’m going to tell my grandson I saw Captain America today. He uses that new fangled cell phone. I can talk to him whenever I like…” 

Steve smiled, and went back into Peggy’s room, finding her awake again. “Peg?” he said gently, unsure of what state of mind she was in.

“Steve,” Peggy said quietly, looking over at him. “We had Angie’s pictures out.” 

Steve nodded. “Yeah, Peg. Gotta question for you though.”

Peggy looked at him curiously, thumb ghosting back and forth over the picture she held. 

“You’re my best girl, Peg,” Steve said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “But Angie was yours, wasn’t she?” 

Peggy gave a soft smile. “She was. And had she not...died...I would never have married. It seems that everyone I truly loved always left me. So I married a friend instead, to keep that one alive. But Angie and I were partners, lovers in every sense of the word,” Peggy murmured. “And I can finally say so.” 

Steve took her free hand. “Do you want to talk about her?” he asked, squeezing gently. 

“I want to talk about her. While I’m...here,” Peggy said, looking up at him with sad eyes. “She loved you, you know. And I think it was only because I loved you so much...love you.”

“Love you too, Peg. My best girl,” Steve said quietly. 

“I still can’t believe you came back.”

“I owed you a dance,” Steve said. “Now. How’d you meet this Angie, huh?” 

Peggy chuckled. “I was ordering lunch, and instead of something healthy, I wanted a slice of pie,” she started. 

**

“Peg?” Steve said, tapping on the door a few weeks later. “You awake?” He held up a bag as Peggy looked over and smiled. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Is it Christmas already?” Peggy asked, sitting up a bit.

“Almost,” Steve said, coming into the room and sitting down. “Three days. I’ll just be gone on a mission. Wanted to make sure you had this.”

“You work too hard,” Peggy chastised, taking the bag with shaking hands. “Can I open this now?”

“Course, Peg.” Steve helped her take the tissue paper out, setting it aside and sliding the canvas out onto her lap. “There you go.”

“What is this?” Peggy frowned, lifting it up and turning it around. “Oh!” she said quietly, eyes going wide.

The nurse tapped gently on the door a moment after. “Ms. Carter? Time for your afternoon medication. Oh, is that an Christmas present?” 

Peggy nodded, turning to smile at her. She held up the picture. “This is my Angie.” 

“She’s very pretty. A friend?” the nurse asked, coming inside and setting out Peggy’s medicine in a small paper cup, pouring her some water. 

“She was my partner. I loved her,” Peggy said, handing the picture to Steve. “Can you put it with the other ones?”

Steve nodded. “Course, Peg.” He set the canvas behind the other photos on her bedside table. 

“She looks just like my wife,” the nurse said, handing her the cup. “Those big green eyes. Captain, will you help her take her medication?” 

“Of course. Thank you, ma’am.”

“All right. I’ll be back on my rounds, Ms. Carter. Take it easy, you two.” She smiled and left.

Steve smiled. “All right, Peg. Medicine.”

Peggy nodded and took it, reaching out to touch the canvas again. “Steve...when did you do this?” she asked, voice wavering as she traced the smile on Angie’s face. 

Steve smiled. “Scanned it a while back. Had it printed a few days ago. Figured you needed something to remember Angie by that you didn’t have to hide,” he said quietly. “We don’t need to hide anymore, Peg. I want you to remember that.”

Peggy blinked back tears. “No, we don’t,” she said, looking at the picture. 

Steve leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It’s all right, Peg,” he murmured as she took a shaky breath. “It’s finally okay.”


	2. Photoset for Something to Remember

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, find me [here](http://hums-happily.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.  
> Any notification of errors are accepted with gratefulness that knows no bounds.  
> Kudos, comments, and your happy (pained) flailing are accepted with glee. I hope you enjoyed!  
> 


End file.
